1. Field of the Disclosure
The present application relates generally to an imaging device and more particularly to a noise dampened re-drive assembly including a diverter gate for directing media between simplex and duplex portions of a media path.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most imaging or printing systems offer an automatic duplex function which reverses a media sheet to allow print or scanning of the reverse side of the media sheet. To accomplish this function most of these mechanisms have some type of a re-drive assembly which takes a media sheet that has been printed or scanned on one side and diverts it through a duplex media path back into the simplex media path such that the back side of the media sheet can then be printed or scanned. At the heart of the re-drive assembly is a diverter gate. This diverter gate directs media sheet along designated simplex or duplex portions of the media path depending on what additional operations need to be performed. An embodiment of a prior art re-drive assembly is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,431,293, entitled “Dual Path Roll For An Image Forming Device,” issued Oct. 7, 2008 and assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure. On some imaging systems, the diverter gate may be passive—actuated by the media—as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 8,887,564, entitled “Media Actuated Media Diverter For An Imaging Device,” filed Dec. 31, 2012 and assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure. But on more complex imaging systems, the diverter gates are either driven by a solenoid or a small electric drive motor coupled to a sector gear. Typically, the diverter gate needs to be fast acting to keep up with ever increasing throughput demands where media feed rates are 40-70 media sheets per minute. The rapid actuation of the diverter gate between the simplex media path and the duplex media path and then back requires that the drive motor be driven at a high speed until the diverter gate hits a mechanical stop creating an acoustical impulse each time the diverter gate position changes. This creates high noise levels that can be distracting. While foam pads have been placed on these points of contact, the noise levels are still considered problematic. Slowing the diverter gate transition speed reduces media throughput.
It would therefore be advantageous to be able to dampen the acoustic impulses created when the diverter gate strikes the mechanical stop without reducing media throughput.